


shot through the heart

by sarahyyy



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: (sort of at least), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Police, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Witness Protection, and i would die for this seung-gil yuri friendship i've built up, seung-gil is in this because i apparently can't write a fic without including seung-gil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 18:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12347940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahyyy/pseuds/sarahyyy
Summary: “Fuck,” Yuri says. “You know I hate cops.”“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” a voice comes from behind Victor and Yakov, and Yuri tries to stretch up to see who it is, only to fall back on the bed, hissing at the twinge in his side. “I’m Inspector Otabek Altin. I’m in charge of the team Mayor Baranovskaya requested we set up for your protection.”





	shot through the heart

**Author's Note:**

> Watch me write a goddamn fic to procrastinate from finals. Which is next week. /o\ What am I doing with my life?

It starts with Yuri getting shot.

—

It’s not the first shot that hits him.

Yuri wasn’t even really in the line of vision of the shooter, seeing as how he’s crouched behind a filing cabinet.

He hears one shot first. Watches in horror as Georgi hits the ground, clutching his leg and cursing. There’s a lot of goddamn blood, and Yuri thinks almost hysterically that it’s going to take a fucking professional cleaner to get that stain out of the carpet. 

Another shot goes off, and this time, he hears a pained, terrified whimper.

It’s the _goddamn intern_. It’s his fucking first day in the office. Yuri hadn’t even wanted him there, had fought Yakov so hard to _not_ be in charge of the kid. 

_Who the fuck_ goes after a goddamn intern?

Yuri loses his shit, picks himself off the ground, and yells, “Oi, you fucking asshole, he’s just a _kid_!”

He did not, in hindsight, think that shit through.

—

The good news is that Yuri doesn’t die. 

The bad news is that the shooter went and shot himself before the cops could arrest him, swearing that someone will be back to “finish the job”. 

So far, no-one really knows what “the job” is. The cops hadn’t been able to identify the shooter; his fingerprints weren’t in the system, and he had no other distinguishing marks on his body. They do suspect that he’s likely a part of a larger criminal organisation, one that appeared to have taken into account all eventualities, considering how quickly and decisively he’d off himself when it became clear that he had nowhere else to run. 

They try another angle, but that yielded no results too. Nothing in the office had been taken or tampered with. Georgi and Yuri weren’t working on any cases together, and looking into their separate open cases, even the ones that hadn’t reached the sentencing stage yet, was…too much, because hey, the job calls for high-efficiency, after all. And they can’t even rule out this being a revenge job, which would mean the cops would have to look into the closed cases too.

The point is, no-one fucking knows what is going on, or if Yuri, Georgi, and the intern are still in danger, which is really fucking shitty news. 

But that’s not even the worst part yet, for Yuri. 

“Police protection? For how long?”

Victor shrugs. “However long it takes for them to close this case.”

“They’re going _nowhere_ with the investigation. They literally have _no leads_ ,” Yuri groans. “I’m going to have a police shadow for the rest of my fucking life.”

“Consider that one of the perks of the job,” Yakov tells him. 

“Can I say no?” Yuri asks, hopeful.

“If you think you can convince Lilia that you don’t need police protection, then yes, you can,” Yakov replies serenely. “She’s the one who demanded it.”

“Fuck,” Yuri says. “You know I hate cops.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” a voice comes from behind Victor and Yakov, and Yuri tries to stretch up to see who it is, only to fall back on the bed, hissing at the twinge in his side. “I’m Inspector Otabek Altin. I’m in charge of the team Mayor Baranovskaya requested we set up for your protection.”

Yuri groans. “A _team_?” 

“A team,” Otabek confirms. Then, almost wryly, “It’ll be hard to pull off a 24-hour police detail on all three victims of the shooting for an indeterminate amount of time without setting up a team, don’t you think?”

Great. Just fucking great. A police inspector with sass. A _hot_ police inspector with sass who doesn’t seem to like him much. 

He can just about imagine the days to come. Getting shot was probably just the easy part of his life.

—

The officer assigned to him seems nice enough, at least. Polite, happy to leave Yuri to his privacy and stand guard outside the hospital room, he doesn’t make small talk, and if Yuri were really honest with himself, he’s not hard on the eyes. 

Not Inspector Altin levels of hotness, but tall, dark, and broody seems to be a specific type that Yuri has. 

So, okay, having a 24/7 police detail mostly sucks less than he thought it would. How was Yuri supposed to know? It’s not like he’s been in that situation before. 

He’s also recovering well from his wounds. Doesn’t mean that they don’t hurt like the devil sometimes, but it’s mostly been tolerable.

Which makes the first night he wakes up screaming literally The Most Embarrassing Time in His Life™. 

“Hey, hey,” Officer Katsuki is saying gently beside him. “Hey, it’s just a nightmare, you’re in the hospital, you’re safe, I’m here, everything is going to be fine.”

“Fuck,” Yuri says, breathing heavily. He’s pretty sure he’s soaked through his clothes, and his heart is racing. “Fuck, that motherfucker really shot me.”

Katsuki laughs a little at that. “Yeah, he really did.”

“When you guys find out who’s behind all this, I’m going to fucking indict them so hard.” 

“I’m sure you will,” Katsuki says, smiling. “Are you alright? Do you need me to call anyone for you?”

Yuri makes a face.

“Or I could stay here to keep you company for awhile, if you’d prefer that,” Katsuki offers. “Just until you feel a bit better.”

Yuri thinks about saying no, but… He does feel a little bit better with Katsuki here. 

“Yeah, okay,” he ends up saying. “Officer Minami said you were new.”

Katsuki nods. “New to the team, not to police work. I’m a transferee. This is my first assignment on Inspector Altin’s team.”

Yuri snorts. “First assignment and you land a babysitting job. Sucks huh?”

“Well, we can’t all be in charge of homicides and grand larcenies,” Katsuki says with a shrug. “I prefer this, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Full disclosure, the last case I was on, uh, didn’t go so well,” Katsuki tells him quietly. “I panicked when I was on the field and… Nobody got hurt, but I messed up pretty badly, and the perp got away because of my mistake. I got put on desk duty for awhile after that, was lucky they didn’t suspend me, to be honest, and I actually thought that was the best I was going to get until Inspector Altin requested for my transfer.” 

Huh. 

Katsuki lets out a nervous laugh when Yuri doesn’t say anything. “If you’re worried about my competency, I can talk to Otabek about-”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Yuri snaps. “You’ve been protecting me for a week and a half now, and nothing’s happened to me. That’s competent enough for me.” 

“Thanks, Yuri,” Katsuki murmurs, and he looks so grateful that Yuri feels himself flushing a little. 

“So…you and Inspector Altin?” he asks quickly, to deflect, thinking about the way Katsuki had said ‘ _Otabek_ ’. 

Katsuki huffs a laugh. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not thinking anything,” Yuri says, feigning innocence as best as he can. 

“He’s just a really good person,” Katsuki tells him. “I met him at my parents’ restaurant. Bought enough food to feed an army, and then I found out he was taking it to one of his informants who lived on the streets. He figured he’d feed all of his informant’s friends as well.” 

“Huh,” Yuri says. 

“He’s single, by the way,” Katsuki says with a tiny smirk. 

Yuri glares at him. “I didn’t ask.”

“Not outright,” Katsuki counters, and _dammit_. 

“I’m going to go back to sleep now,” Yuri says snootily. 

Katsuki is still laughing when he closes the door behind him.

—

He doesn’t know what Katsuki told Otabek (he would be more embarrassed, but Otabek never mentions it, never even acts like he’s heard from Katsuki about Yuri’s stupid crush on him), but the man starts checking in on him. Very often. Like, he comes by daily, which is terribly uncalled for and 100% a waste of police resources, considering how nothing is even happening. 

Yuri _loves it_. 

The conversations start out slow, mostly just Otabek awkwardly asking if Yuri’s feeling any better, if he’s having any problem with Katsuki being around. They slowly find common ground when Otabek starts telling Yuri a little more about himself. 

He complains to Yuri about his sisters trying to ruin his life by giving his number out to literally any single person they meet. Yuri sighs sympathetically and tells him about that time Mila made their cohort think that Yuri was an escort that she hired to keep her company in class. Otabek laughs so hard he has tears in his eyes. 

They talk about how Yuri’s job is so time-consuming that he can’t get a cat, and how much it sucks that Otabek’s apartment complex doesn’t allow pets. Yuri very pointedly bites down on the urge to suggest that maybe they could co-own a cat; it could stay in Yuri’s apartment, and Otabek could take care of it. 

Yuri asks Otabek about work, and Otabek lets Yuri bitch about how Yakov won’t even let him do paperwork from the hospital. Otabek laughs when Yuri wonders aloud if he could write to the union to tell them that Yakov is treating him unfairly.

It’s almost like they’ve become friends, and Yuri loves that too.

He loves that most of all.

—

Katsuki laughs at Yuri a lot, but _ha_ , he’s definitely not laughing the first time Victor comes visiting with hot chocolate for Yuri and knocks it all over Katsuki, who is just on the way out of Yuri’s room, instead.

The next few moments are, for lack of a better descriptor, _disgusting_. 

Yuri can almost see a sign hanging over both their heads screaming in bright neon letters “LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT” as they stare at each other in poorly concealed awe for a long suspended moment.

It takes Yuri clearing his throat politely for Victor to stutter out an apology. 

Katsuki goes so red that Yuri is honestly worried that it might be an allergic reaction to the hot chocolate that Victor just spilled all over him before he says something about getting cleaned up, and bolts out of there. 

“Holy shit,” Victor murmurs, still in a daze when he plops down onto the chair beside Yuri’s bed. “God is real. God is real, and he just showed me my true love.”

Yuri groans. 

—

He admittedly has a good time making fun of Katsuki about this whole debacle, but the joy wears out very quickly when Yuri realises that Victor was very serious about the “true love” bit. 

“I need a new guard,” is the first thing that Yuri says to Otabek when Otabek closes the door to the hospital room behind him. 

Otabek immediately frowns. “What? Do you not feel safe with Yuuri?”

“It’s not that,” Yuri says quickly, and then scowls when Otabek smirks. “He’s…okay, I suppose. It’s Victor.”

The smirk grows, like Otabek already knows what Yuri is going to tell him. “Oh?”

“He keeps coming over to “visit” me so he can see Katsuki,” Yuri grumbles anyway. “It’s getting annoying.”

Otabek snorts. 

“I’m serious,” Yuri insists. “He’ll moon at Katsuki outside the door for like three minutes, and then come in and tell me all about how Katsuki Yuuri has the loveliest eyes and the most kissable lips, and honestly, if it didn’t hurt me to move, I’d have knifed Victor already.”

“It hurts to move?” Otabek asks, concerned.

“That’s not the takeaway here,” Yuri says, but he can feel his own cheeks heat up a little at the intensity in Otabek’s eyes. “The point is, can you do something about Katsuki?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Otabek promises, and Yuri relaxes into the bed again. Then, again, “It hurts?”

“Not so much anymore,” Yuri confesses. 

He doesn’t give voice to the _it feels a lot better when you’re here_ that’s straining on the tip of his tongue. He hopes Otabek can tell anyway.

—

“Yuriiii, have you seen _my_ Yuu- Oh, Inspector Altin!”

“Counsel Nikiforov,” Otabek greets. And then, “I gave Yuuri the day off.”

Victor’s face falls. “Oh! Is he okay? Is he sick? Does he need soup? Do you know if he’d like some soup-”

Yuri rolls his eyes, and cuts Victor off quickly. “Don’t be embarrassing, Victor.”

Otabek almost smiles at that, and says, “He’s been working full shifts the last couple of days. I just thought it would be nice for him to catch a break.” 

He glances at Yuri for a second, and _oh_ , he did this because Yuri asked him to, because Yuri wanted a break from Victor. 

Otabek is the best.

“Oh,” Victor says, still sounding forlorn. “But he’ll be back?”

Yuri snorts.

“Most probably.” This is said to Yuri, and there’s a hint of an apology in Otabek’s eyes when Yuri turns to face him. “We’re a little short on staff at the moment.”

Otabek turns back to Victor. “Yuri says that you enjoy Japanese food?”

Yuri makes a face at Otabek. He’s never said that to Otabek. 

Victor’s nose scrunches. “I don’t-”

“Yuuri’s parents just happen to own a Japanese restaurant downtown,” Otabek tells him. “They’re pretty famous for their katsudon. You should give it a shot. Maybe you might even bump into Yuuri there because he’s always helping out at the restaurant on his days off.”

“Oh. _Oh_ ,” Victor says. “I like you,” he tells Otabek, and then turns to look at Yuri. “I like this one. Please keep him around.”

Yuri rolls his eyes and hopes that it covers his flush. “If you don’t leave now, you’re not going to get there in time for lunch to embarrass yourself in front of Katsuki’s family.”

Victor strides towards him, leans down to press a wet kiss on his forehead. “You’re the best, Yurochka.”

“You’re an idiot!” Yuri grumbles at Victor’s retreating back, and Otabek just laughs softly. “You didn’t have to do that for him,” he tells Otabek, even though he’s mostly grateful on Victor’s behalf.

He’ll never admit it, not even at gunpoint, but Victor’s the closest thing he has to a brother, and he wants to see Victor happy, even if it means that Victor is going to be even more annoying than usual.

Otabek shrugs. “Maybe I’ve got a little bit of a romantic bone in me,” he replies easily, and picks up the conversation from before Victor comes in, like he knows that Yuri doesn’t want to talk about this at length.

Yuri thinks he might be a little in love with him.

—

“You know you don’t actually have to come and check in every day, right?” Yuri asks when Otabek stops by again before his night shift. “You must have better things to do, like, y’know, actually catching the asshole who shot us?”

Otabek’s smirk is very sly when he says, “Is this you telling me that you’d prefer Nikiforov’s company to mine?”

Yuri makes a face. “Ugh, no,” he says vehemently. “Please come by every day. In fact, stay. Stay and don’t ever leave.”

Otabek smiles at that. It’s a softer smile than the one he usually sports. Gentler, Yuri thinks. More private.

There’s a weird feeling in Yuri’s chest. A complication from the surgery, no doubt.

“Well, if you’re going to continue showing up, bring me something nice next time, at least,” he says quickly to distract himself from thinking about Otabek’s goddamn smile.

“A get-well-soon balloon?” Otabek suggests, and his eyes are bright, like he’s laughing at Yuri a little. “Bright pink and glittery?”

Yuri rolls his eyes. “Sneak me in some alcohol and you’ll be my favourite cop on the force.”

Otabek snorts. “I already am.”

“Someone’s cocky.”

“Rightfully so,” Otabek shoots back, still smiling. “I’m not bringing you alcohol,” he tells Yuri. “Maybe flowers, though.”

There’s that tightness in Yuri’s chest again. He should really get that checked out. Isn’t this how heart attacks usually start?

“Yeah, flowers,” he croaks out, and Otabek blessedly doesn’t say anything about how Yuri’s voice is a little hoarse, or how his reply came a beat too late. This is probably why Yuri likes him _so fucking much_. “I like flowers.”

—

Otabek does show up with flowers the next day. And a card in the shape of a wine glass. 

_Get well soon. There’s wine waiting for you._

“I’m going to treat this as an IOU for the wine. I’m collecting this debt the moment I leave the hospital.”

Otabek smiles. It’s one of those smiles again. “Yeah, you do that.”

Yuri wonders, belatedly, after Otabek’s left for his shift, if that exchange could be read in a whole new light. Did Otabek ask Yuri out on a date with the card? Did _Yuri_ ask Otabek out on a date upon receiving the card? Whichever way Yuri looks at it, there’s an offer, and there’s an acceptance. 

His heart beats faster in his chest. 

What else? _What else?_ Consideration, mutuality of obligation; Yuri to get out of the hospital, Otabek to buy him wine. 

Intent? 

Yuri’s heart sinks. This would fail for lack of intention, for sure. 

The test for intention is an objective one, and Yuri can honestly say with zero doubt in his mind that no reasonable bystander would think that Otabek would have any romantic interest in Yuri. Sure, he comes around a lot, but this is his _job_ , and Yuri? Yuri is just a case. 

And when this is over, they’re going to go back to being _acquaintances_. Yuri is going to call him sometimes because he needs Otabek’s help on cases sometimes, and Otabek is going to nod his head at Yuri when he sees Yuri in court, and Yuri’s not going to have this anymore, not going to have Otabek smiling indulgently by his bedside listening to Yuri ramble about how much he hates not being able to work; fuck, Yuri isn’t even going to be able to see Otabek on a daily basis anymore, after this is all wrapped up. 

He buries his head in a pillow, and screams a little. 

—

“Don’t be ridiculous, Yuri,” Victor snaps. “Why would they call off the police detail on you? The shooter’s accomplice hasn’t been caught yet.”

“But I’m _fine_ , the intern is fine, Georgi is fine too, and no-one’s even come to try to attack us-”

“Because you have police protection!” 

“It’s a waste of taxpayer money, and you know it,” Yuri grumbles. 

“No,” Victor says, uncharacteristically serious. “No, it’s not, and you know it. Yuri, you were _shot_ , you almost _died_ , and so far, they don’t even know _why_ yet. We don’t even know who we should be protecting you from, and that’s fucking terrifying, Yuri. The police detail on you makes it better. There may not be threats on your life now, but they’re there and ready to act right away _in case there is_.” 

Yuri swallows. “Victor…”

“You’re the closest thing I have to family, you brat, so can you please, _please_ just stop trying to worry me to death?” 

Yuri nods. “I’m sorry.” 

“This isn’t really about the police detail ‘infringing on your freedom and privacy’, is it?” Victor asks wryly, after a moment. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Yuri says quietly. 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Victor says agreeably. “But if you do, I’m here, and I’ve been told that I’m a great listener.”

Yuri snorts. “You’re _terrible_ at listening.”

“Well, okay, yeah,” Victor says. “But I do have very good intuition, and my intuition is telling me that this is about Otabek.” He holds up a hand before Yuri can get his _I said I don’t want to talk about it_ in. “We’re not talking about this,” he assures Yuri. “I just wanted to let you know that…intuition tells me that whatever it is that you’re worrying about, you’re worrying over nothing.” 

“You don’t know that,” Yuri says, petulant.

“I have fantastic intuition,” Victor reminds him. “Yakov says that all the time. Grumpily. But I think that still counts.”

“Yakov is going senile,” Yuri mutters. “Nothing he says is of consequence.”

Victor smirks, smug. “Ha, he just said today that the office is less productive without you around.”

“Of course it is,” Yuri says. “How could any work be done? Georgi and I are both stuck in the hospital, and you’re mooning over Katsuki Yuuri.” 

It’s an opening for Victor to change the subject.

Victor takes it.

—

Otabek is furious when he comes in that day after work. Well, furious in his silent, stoic way, which means that he just looks grimmer than usual.

“What is this I’m hearing about you wanting to opt out of police protection?” 

“Did Victor tell you?”

“No, Yuuri did,” Otabek says. 

Yuri sighs. He should’ve known that Victor would let it slip to Yuuri. “Look, it’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” Otabek growls. “ _Nothing_? Yuri, do you know how dangerous it could be for you to be without police protection?” 

“I don’t need the lecture,” Yuri says, and he’s not sulking, he swears. “I’ve already heard it from Victor. It was a stupid idea. I think I was just looking for drama. I was probably just bored of being in the hospital. I’ve put it out of my mind, nothing to worry about now.”

Otabek’s eyes narrow. “Really? You’re not going to do anything really stupid, like trying to ditch police detail?”

Yuri snorts. “The way I am now, I could never outrun Katsuki,” he tells Otabek. When that does nothing to ease the pinched look on Otabek’s face, Yuri adds, with a sigh, “Not that I would, even if I could.”

“Good,” Otabek says, and then sinks down into the chair beside Yuri’s bed. “They’re gonna catch him, I promise. And then we’ll stop infringing on your freedom and privacy.” 

That last bit is said almost mockingly, and when Yuri looks up at Otabek, he’s grinning a little, eyes bright with amusement. 

“God, Victor really has no fucking filter around Katsuki,” Yuri moans. 

“We knew that already,” Otabek says, and they both share a smile. 

“Wait,” Yuri says a beat later. “‘They’re going to catch him.’ You said… You said ‘they’re going to catch him’. Not ‘they’re going to find out who’s behind this mess of a situation’, you said _catch him_.” 

Otabek clears his throat, and looks away from Yuri.

“Holy fuck, have you guys made a breakthrough?” Yuri demands. 

“I’m not at liberty to discuss this,” Otabek says, which is very pointedly not a no. 

“Why has no-one _told_ me?” 

Victor was just here. Mila was here last night. Even Lilia and Yakov came by yesterday. Even if Victor and Mila were really in the dark about this like Yuri is, Yakov would’ve known something. _Lilia_ definitely would have. 

Someone should have told him.

“Yuri-”

“Who’s behind this?” Yuri asks. “Who did I fucking get shot over?”

“I’m not on the investigative team, Yuri,” Otabek says. “I’m just in charge of your protection.”

“But you _know_ stuff.” 

“A little,” Otabek admits. “They only tell me enough to keep you safe.”

“I want to know.” 

“I can’t tell you,” Otabek says. “They were very clear about this, and there must be a good reason for them to keep you from this. Shit. You weren’t even supposed to know this much.”

“This much?” Yuri echoes. “I don’t know _anything_.”

“You know there’s something to know,” Otabek says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“So there _is_ something to know!” 

Otabek sighs.

“I just want to know what’s going on,” Yuri says. 

“My primary objective is to keep you safe from danger,” Otabek says, shaking his head. “And it’s important to this objective that I follow through with the orders given to me.”

“I thought our friendship would be more important than following some ridiculous order that doesn’t even sound fucking legit because I’m a victim in this case, and as a victim, I have rights to stay informed about the case, but I guess not,” Yuri bites out. 

It’s admittedly a low-blow, but he’s always been like this — he gets angrily too quickly, and he doesn’t think before he speaks when he’s angry, just lashes out at whoever is the closest. 

“I’m just doing my job, Yuri,” Otabek says softly. 

“Fine, then. Do your job. Follow your ridiculous order.” He closes his eyes. “See yourself out, please, Inspector Altin.”

—

The moment Otabek leaves, Yuri fishes out his phone, and sends for his own goddamn backup.

If no-one is going to give him any information about his own goddamn case, then he’s just going to have to look for it on his own. Luckily for him, he knows just the person for this. 

Seung-gil shows up an hour later, scowling at Yuri. “This breaks all the rules of our engagement.”

“I’m stuck in the hospital,” Yuri shoots back. “Can’t very well go meet you in a dark, shady alley when I’m not even allowed to leave this room, can I?” 

He’s joking. Seung-gil has just about the worst case of germaphobia out of anyone Yuri knows; there’s no way that Seung-gil would willingly go into a dark alley. 

The first time Yuri had met Seung-gil face-to-face was in a coffee shop by Yuri’s office, three months after Seung-gil had started unofficially working on Yuri’s cases when Yuri needed him to. Seung-gil had tried one of the brownies there and basically fell in love, and they’d kept that place as their regular meet-up point. 

It’s all surprisingly normal for how not-normal their relationship is. He’s pretty sure that most of the baristas at the coffee shop think that they just go there for coffee dates. 

“There’s an Officer Katsuki outside,” Seung-gil hisses. “I had to give him _my name_.”

Yuri looks at him pointedly. 

“Fine, _a_ name,” Seung-gil corrects, rolling his eyes. “I told him you were sober-mentoring me, and told him I was going to die if I didn’t get to speak to you today. It’s been two months since I’ve been sober, I’m having a crisis because my girlfriend left me for my father. I sent you a text begging to meet, and you asked me to come here. I showed him the texts. I showed him my sobriety coin. It was a very convincing story.”

Yuri snorts. “I’ll talk him into leaving it out of the reports later for privacy reasons, don’t worry,” he says, instead of asking Seung-gil how he’d managed to fake his story so quickly. He’s learned to just roll with whatever Seung-gil does. 

“Make sure you do, because I’m taking care of the cameras, and it’s going to be suspicious if they can’t find your visitor from the surveillance footage,” Seung-gil says, drawing his laptop out of his bag. “What do you need me here so urgently for?”

“I need you to hack into the police database for me,” Yuri says.

Seung-gil rubs a hand over his face. “There is literally a cop right outside this room right now.”

“This is important,” Yuri insists. “I’m trying to find out which asshole put me in the hospital.”

“Ah, the shooting at the prosecution office,” Seung-gil says. “What do you want to know?”

“I want to know what the police knows,” Yuri says, and Seung-gil snorts. “What? You can do better than that?”

“Yeah,” Seung-gil says, rolling his eyes. “I can do better than that.”

—

Yakov looks like he’s about to burst a vessel. “An _anonymous source_ told you.”

Yuri nods. 

“That the target is the _intern_.”

Another nod.

“Because of the _intern position in the prosecution office_.” 

“That came as a surprise to me as well,” Yuri admits. “I had no idea that the position was so in demand that people would literally _kill_ for it. It’s an _unpaid position_ , even if it does give them a better chance of getting a job with us after they graduate. But why would anyone even want to work here? I mean, the benefits suck. We don’t even have a good dental plan. And the workplace condition is seriously-”

“This is ridiculous,” Yakov says. 

“I’m going to say, judging by your reaction, that JJ and his team have gone an entire different route with the investigation-”

“How did you even know about that?” Yakov growls. “No-one was supposed to tell you. You’re supposed to be _resting_.”

Yuri ignores him. “-which means that they are nowhere as close to solving the case as they think they are. You have to tell them about this.”

“You want me to tell them about your fucking ridiculous theory.” 

“Yakov,” Yuri says, “ _trust me_. My source says it’s one of the candidates for the position. Mike Garfinkel. He’s got some very shady family who were very unhappy about him not getting the job.”

“Ridicu-”

“Listen to me, just pass the message on. All JJ has to do is to look into the background of this _one_ interview candidate to know if I’m right. It’s not going to take them that much time.” He doesn’t really know if that’s true. If a candidate could pass the prosecution office’s precursory screening, that means that his shady ties will be harder to trace. Not hard enough for Seung-gil to dig up, of course, but Seung-gil is Seung-gil after all. “If I’m wrong, JJ gets to mock me _forever_. He’s not going to pass up on a chance like this.”

Yakov is quiet for a long time.

“Yakov, look, I could’ve told _Victor_ about this, and he would probably blab it out to JJ anyway,” he tries to reason. “I’m telling _you_ because-” Yakov was the first person to show up after Seung-gil left. “-I _know_ this is credible information.”

“From your anonymous source,” Yakov says, and he still sounds disapproving, but…less so, which is a victory for Yuri.

“Yes, from that anonymous source we both pretend I never use for cases,” Yuri says impatiently.

“You’re going to drive me to an early grave, kid,” Yakov mutters, but he fishes his phone out anyway, so Yuri figures that they’re good.

—

The actual resolution of the case is a little anti-climatic. 

It turns out that Seung-gil —and by proxy, Yuri— was right. 

Not that Yuri had any doubts about Seung-gil’s amazing hacking skills to begin with.

As a get-well-soon present, Seung-gil sends a manila folder full of incriminating evidence of the Garfinkel family for JJ and his team, and Yuri can’t say that he minds at all. Better to take down the entire family before they get too trigger-happy and try to avenge any family member again.

Yuri should really encourage Seung-gil to join the force. He could list down his mad skills as “excellent cyber investigation ability”. Seung-gil should be able to forge a computer forensic certification somehow. Hell, Yuri would even write him a recommendation letter.

The intern, whose name Yuri should really start learning, is shellshocked to hear that he inadvertently caused the shooting, and apologises profusely to Georgi and Yuri for it. Yuri can’t even get mad at the boy because he’s so earnest about it. 

The police detail gets pulled almost frighteningly quickly after they make the arrest. Guess Yuri was probably right about it being a strain on the Ministry of Justice funds.

Yuri gets summarily discharged from the hospital right after that as well. After all, he’d only stayed for so long because it was agreed that protection was easier to arrange when all three victims in were one place. Yakov still refuses to let him go back to work though, and Yuri really would’ve argued, but Lilia had threatened to keep him in the hospital by force if he refused to rest at home for at least the next few days, so Yuri figures he would take his wins where he can.

Everything goes back to normal after that, and Yuri would really be a lot happier about it, except for the fact that his normal state of living _has no Otabek in it_. 

Otabek hasn’t come by to see him after that day, hasn’t texted Yuri to congratulate him on being discharged, hasn’t acknowledged Yuri’s existence at all. 

Okay, so. Yuri _knows_ that they didn’t exactly part on good terms the last time they met each other, but this? This is uncalled for. Yuri really shouldn’t feel hurt by this, because after all, he’d predicted that this would happen right from the beginning, but he stares at his phone, still free from messages or calls from Otabek, and still stupidly _is_. 

“You still owe me wine, asshat,” Yuri mutters under his breath, glaring at Otabek’s contact information in his phone before he gives up and switches his phone off and tosses it to the side. 

It’s okay, he’s a functioning adult. He can deal with going back to being acquaintances who nod politely when they bump into each other occasionally. 

Yuri doesn’t miss him.

Not at all.

Everything is _fine_.

—

They throw him a party at office when he finally gets Yakov’s permission to come back in, and Yuri spends the entire morning bitching about the fact that both Georgi and the intern were allowed to come back to work a whole three full days before Yuri.

“Your injuries were more serious than ours,” Georgi says with a shrug. 

Victor nods. “You were shot twice.”

“And Mayor Baranovskaya is weirdly protective of you, so it makes sense that she’d make Yakov give you more time to recover,” the intern chimes in, and smiles sheepishly when Yuri glares at him. 

He really should learn the intern’s name. If he hasn’t left after being shot at on his first day of the job, it’s more likely than not that the prosecution office is going to keep him after his internship, if he doesn’t fuck up massively.

“I really should learn your name,” Yuri says.

The intern beams. “It’s Ji Guang Yang!” he tells Yuri cheerily. “Uh, my brother, Guang Hong, went to law school with you! He used to tell me stories about you arguing with your lecturers. I’m, uh, what you could say to be a huge fan of yours?” 

Yuri smirks at him. “Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere, kid.” 

“I know, but I figured it couldn’t hurt,” Guang Yang says with a shrug, still grinning. “I mean it, though. You’re very impressive in court. I’m a fan. I know Yakov told me to mainly shadow Victor and Georgi because of your deep and complex hatred of people in general, but is there a way I can talk my way into tagging along for your next trial?”

Yuri eyes him, slightly amused. “If you finish the research on these three cases by the end of today,” he says, passing Guang Yang the three files Victor handed him earlier, “then yeah, sure.”

Guang Yang’s smile grows impossibly wide. “This is the best internship ever. Totally worth getting shot over,” he says, before heading straight for his desk.

Yeah, okay, the prosecution office is definitely going to be keeping Guang Yang. 

—

It’s almost the end of the working day when a courier comes for Yuri. He signs for the package, not thinking much about it. He gets too distracted by his work —and fuck, there is _so much work_ , why was he in a hurry to come back again?— to open it. 

He ends up bringing it home with him when Victor all but chases him out of the office a couple of hours later, scowling at him and telling him to take it easy on his first day back.

Yuri rolls his eyes, because it’s only 8 p.m. for fuck’s sake, and it’s not like he hasn’t had enough rest over the last few weeks. 

He does as Victor says, though, not because of any other reason, but because Katsuki shows up with dinner for Victor, and Yuri doesn’t really know how long Victor is going to keep his shirt on for in another very bad attempt at seduction. Not that he really needs a crash course in good seduction techniques at all, considering how literally everything he does is working for Katsuki. 

The package stays unopened, sitting innocently on his coffee table, until Yuri takes a shower and wolfs down a serious amount of Chinese takeaway. 

“Oh,” Yuri says, when he sees what’s in the package. 

There is no sender information, no note attached to the gift, but Yuri doesn’t think there’s any doubt as to who just sent him a bottle of his favourite red wine. 

He blinks at it for a few moments.

His heart is beating too fast again, and he closes his eyes and tries some calming breathing exercises in an attempt to get it beating back at an acceptable rate. It takes more tries than he would like to admit. 

He goes back to staring at the bottle of wine. 

He wonders if he just looked at it enough, it would magically tell him what to do next.

“Fuck it,” he announces to his empty apartment, and goes searching for a corkscrew. 

—

When Otabek picks up Yuri’s call (on the first ring, what does that even _mean_?) later in the night, Yuri’s already downed three-quarters of the bottle of wine. 

“Your gift came late,” he slurs. He’s never been too good at this, at being drunk. He’s a tired drunk. Drinking makes his sleepy and loose with his words. “I said I wanted it the moment I left the hospital.” 

“Sorry,” Otabek says, voice quiet. “I wasn’t sure if it’d be welcome.”

Otabek is ridiculous. “Why would it not?”

“I was under the impression that you were mad at me,” Otabek tells him.

“I _was_ ,” Yuri says. 

“Sorry.”

“I was, but I’m not now.” He stares at the wine bottle in his hand. “The wine helped.”

Yuri thinks he can hear the smile in Otabek’s voice when he says, “Then it’s a very good bottle of wine.”

Yuri hums in agreement. “This wasn’t how I wanted it, though.”

“Oh?”

“I thought-” Yuri lifts the wine bottle to his lips again, and takes a long swig. “I thought when you gave me the card that you were maybe asking me out on a date.” 

There’s only quiet on Otabek’s end.

Yuri lets out a mirthless chuckle. “God, they must have been giving me all the good drugs in the hospital.”

Otabek is still silent, and Yuri can’t do this. Even with almost a bottle of wine in him, he doesn’t think that he’s drunk enough for this yet. 

“Anyway,” he says quickly, “thanks for the wine. I’ll let you get back-”

“I was,” Otabek says. “I was asking you out on a date.” 

“Oh.”

“God, Yuri, you don’t even know how nervous I was on that day,” Otabek tells him, and now that he’s starting to talk, it’s as if a dam has been broken. “I spent twenty minutes at the florist’s trying to figure out what flowers you would like best. I paced outside your room for almost ten minutes before Yuuri finally took pity on me and shoved me inside. He’d always been telling me that you wouldn’t be horrified if I asked you out, but I just…wasn’t _sure_ , and suddenly it felt like a really huge step to try to, I don’t know, confess that I have feelings for you. I wanted to hold your hand, to tell you that day that I like you _so fucking much_ , but I ended up backing out. I figured there was a better time for it, a better place, but then the next time we met, you were so angry at me, and I didn’t think you’d ever want to see me again. I thought I blew my chances with you.”

Yuri swallows. “You didn’t,” he whispers. 

“Really?” Otabek asks, and the hope in his voice makes Yuri’s chest ache. 

“I missed you,” Yuri confesses. “I thought that I could deal with not having you around, but I missed you every goddamn day.”

“Christ, _Yuri_ , I think I lo-”

“Don’t say it,” Yuri interrupts. “Not over the phone.”

“Okay,” Otabek says, voice hoarse. “Okay.”

“Ask me out on a date,” Yuri tells him. “Ask me properly.”

“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?” Otabek asks. “No, wait. Lunch. Lunch is earlier.” There is a pause. “Breakfast? Could you maybe do breakfast?”

Yuri huffs out a laugh. “Breakfast,” he agrees. 

—

[EPILOGUE - six months later]

Otabek wakes him up with a kiss to his temple. 

“Ugh, no,” Yuri whines. “Five more minutes. I’m tired.”

“Should’ve gone to bed earlier then, hmm?” Otabek murmurs.

And that has Yuri opening his eyes blearily to glare at Otabek a little. “And whose fault is that?”

“Yours, Yura,” Otabek says, laughing. “It really was your fault.”

Yuri drags himself up to a sitting position, then quickly decides against it being a good idea, and ends up slumping against Otabek, purring a little in contentment when Otabek cards his fingers through Yuri’s hair. 

“You were in your full uniform,” Yuri groans. “What was I supposed to do? Not have sex with you?”

Otabek laughs again, and moves to rubbing soft circles on Otabek’s back. “Okay, okay. My fault.”

Yuri hums in agreement. 

“I really do have to get going soon,” Otabek tells him. “There’s been a robbery downtown.”

Yuri sighs, and loosens his grip on Otabek. “Okay,” he says. “Come back injury-free tonight, and I’ll give you the best blow job of your life.”

Otabek snorts. “I don’t know why I love you.”

“Best blow job of your life,” Yuri reminds him, and then smiles at the fond look that Otabek gives him. “I love you too, by the way. Now go before I wake up enough to decide that I really want to get you naked again.”

“I made breakfast,” Otabek tells him as he pads out of the room. “You better get to it before it cools.”

All things considered, the last six months have been very good to him. 

Perhaps getting shot was a good thing after all.

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, I'm on tumblr, and you can come say hi whenever! Like seriously, come talk to me about Otabek. Or laugh at how I can't write one goddamn fic without sneaking Seung-gil into it. It'd also be super nice if you could reblog the fic post [here on tumblr](http://sarah-yyy.tumblr.com/post/166350269818/shot-through-the-heart-sarahyyy-yuri-on-ice) if you've enjoyed the fic! :)))))))
> 
> Also, let's play spot that scene I wrote while waiting to facilitate a contracts revision class for the kids. Write what you know, yes?
> 
> ETA: [bonus Seung-gil material](http://sarah-yyy.tumblr.com/post/166389777518/i-have-a-pressing-question-about-shot-through-the), because why not?


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